The Magic School Bus (TV series)

Production

The Magic School Bus animated series was developed by Craig Walker, a former Scholastic vice president and senior editorial director. Scholastic co-produced the show, with the National Science Foundation funding an early pilot animatic completed in 1992. Additional support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the U.S. Department of Energy allowed scripting to start while a corporate underwriter was sought. Lily Tomlin was cast as Ms. Frizzle in early 1993, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner voiced The Producer.

Full production began with Nelvana, and the series premiered on September 10, 1994. Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. provided some animation. The theme song "Ride on the Magic School Bus" was written by Peter Lurye and performed by Little Richard. Voice directors for season four were Susan Blu and Dan Hennessey; writers included Brian Meehl and Jocelyn Stevenson.

Broadcast

In the United States, the original run aired on PBS from September 1994 to December 8, 1997, as part of its daytime and weekday children's block, making it the first fully-animated series on PBS. By the series' end, it was among the highest-rated PBS shows for school-age children. Reruns continued on PBS until September 25, 1998. On December 15, 1997, Fox acquired the series, and it aired on the Fox Kids block from October 5, 1998 to September 6, 2002.

TLC and Discovery Kids later aired the series from February 24, 2003 until 2010. In 2005, Nelvana Limited acquired the series and sold it to Latin American versions of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, where it continues to air. As of 2021, the show is distributed by 9 Story Media Group.

Home media

The series was released on VHS from 1995 to 2002, distributed by KidVision in 1995 and Warner Home Video from 1997 to 2002. DVD releases by Warner Home Video occurred from 2002 to 2005. On July 31, 2012, New Video Group released the complete series on DVD in Region 1, along with rereleases of the Warner Home Video DVDs.

On August 15, 2013, Scholastic announced the series' availability on Netflix, though only season 1 is currently streamable there. The full series is available on Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+ (added July 1, 2026), Tubi (added July 2024), and The Roku Channel (added September 2024). In October 2024, Scholastic began uploading the series to its official YouTube channels.

Reception

In a 2007 Wall Street Journal piece, Jason Fry praised the series but pointed out that the episode "The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed" showed how quickly technology changes. He felt the story about a machine running wild was outdated for kids in 2007, and a modern version would tackle internet searches and network ideas. The books and show have been used in classrooms since they came out.

Research suggests the fantastical parts help children understand basic ideas before moving on to harder words and pictures. The book series was made to get kids excited about science while being fun. Many scientists say watching The Magic School Bus and other PBS science shows early on led them to their careers, which has sparked more studies on how it affects early science learning.

Did You Know?

• The school in the series, Walkerville Elementary, is set in the fictitious town of Walkerville.
• A video game titled The Magic School Bus: Oceans was released for Nintendo DS on October 25, 2011.
• The revival series The Magic School Bus Rides Again premiered on Netflix on September 29, 2017, with Kate McKinnon voicing Fiona Felicity Frizzle.